The River
by luckbringer
Summary: Emily and her three friends are enjoying a game of cards during a storm, but where's Spot? The search is on!


**Fun fact: I thought up a lot of little scenes and grand epics with my toys (and my video games) when I was a toddler, but this was the first story I ever set to paper. Though the original pages have been lost, I attempted to recreate my work here as a Fanfiction. So the wording is a little bit different, but the plot is exactly as I intended it to be all those years ago; even the names are the same. Enjoy!

Oh, and this takes place in a town called Danvile (that's how my 8-year-old self spelled it) and is from the GameCube version of Animal Crossing. Please note that some things in this story are not part of AC canon.**

There is no better feeling than being inside while the rest of the world is covered in a torrential downpour.

Emily had often thought along these lines, using it to excuse her reluctance to ever attend her animal friends' houses for "get-togethers". But she was fine with never talking to her other neighbors, because she had the best group of human friends anyone could ask for. It only took a couple of chats and one letter to get all of them to agree to come over to her house after dark and play cards.

"A king and an ace! This round's all mine!" Max crowed as he gathered his winnings like a hoarding squirrel. Tonight Emily was seeing him in a new light. Usually the boy with maple-brown hair and wearing a track outfit was kind towards others and never raised his voice, but Max was proving to be a right prick in his friends' side when it came to his actions at a gambling table.

Mary made little whining noises and pouted into her crossed arms, angered at losing once again. She was a sweet girl, with her pink hair and rainbow outfit, but with her sweetness came a kind of ignorance. Emily secretly thought her naivety and her hatred of not getting her way stemmed from her upbringing. Almost everyone in the town of Danvile knew she came from royalty.

Emily shook her head at the girl's actions and shifted her eyes towards the only one smiling at the table. Ben always seemed to be showering goodness and kindness through his black hair. If his dark blue shirt didn't convince people he was the quintessence of calm, then his ability to diffuse any and all tension would. He never fished or went bug hunting (animal abuse, he called it) and was known to pick weeds almost every day. He was a hard worker, and Emily had never known Ben to be anything but.

Before she could stop herself, Emily leaned towards him and asked, "Why are you still smiling? Max took all of your chips."

But Ben smiled and replied, "Then I hope he makes good use of them. They're worthless next round, and by then, it's my turn to be the dealer."

Now Emily was smiling, too, and she secretly relished the idea of Max's massive ego being deflated a few notches.

"Hey, Emily," Mary said, "Where's Spot?"

The table went silent instantly and turned their attention towards Emily, who shifted uncomfortably in their gaze. She'd been dodging that particular question for most of the night, afraid that if she answered, she would break little Mary's heart. "I-I'm not sure," Emily finally answered. "Probably out digging for fossils to chew on or something."

"You know Spot hates the rain," Max quipped. He was always the one to point out the obvious. "So where is he? Have you seen him at all today?"

Emily bit her lip and shook her head. No, she hadn't seen her little puppy named Spot all day, and now it was the dead of night and she had yet to hear a bark or a yip from him. What if he was in trouble? What if he was lost? What if he was—!

"Hey, now, stop that, Emily." She felt Ben put a reassuring hand on her shoulder to match his even voice. "Worrying over possibilities will get us nowhere. If Spot's out there, then we've got to find him."

"What? In this storm?" Max opened his mouth to protest further, but a warning glare from Ben silenced him. Then he muttered, "But…where do we even begin to look?"

"You're the one who always runs around town. Where do puppies usually go?" Mary snapped. Clearly she was still upset about Max's annoying ability to win.

Max made to snap back at her, but once again it was Ben's voice that won out, ending the sibling feud before it started. Mary and Max weren't related, but their arguments tended to get out of hand rather quickly. "Stop it, you two," Ben said. "Let's listen to what Spot's owner has to say."

Three pairs of eyes turned towards her, and though Emily was grateful for his calmness she did not like being put in the spotlight. "Well," she began, "Spot always liked the river. He would always try to drag me towards it, no matter the weather."

"Then that's where we'll begin our search." Ben stood, prompting the rest of the table to do the same, and just like that, he was leader. "Max, you and Mary look around the south part of the river, just after the waterfall. Emily and I will take the top half. If you find Spot, bring him straight here and stay put. We'll meet up with you eventually. Understood?"

Three heads bobbed up and down. When it came to the much-loved Spot, not even Mary complained about whatever arrangement she was forced into. "Alright," Ben said, straightening his back. "Let's go find Spot."

And just like that, the search was on. Max and Mary rushed out the door with nothing to protect them from the storm but the clothes on their backs and two umbrellas, and were soon swallowed by the night. With a nod from Ben, Emily went outside next, and was instantly soaked. Her blue umbrella could keep out so much.

"Ready?" Ben was beside her with his orange umbrella tightly gripped in his hands. How Emily envied his calm demeanor in the face of any storm, literal or metaphorical. It was as if he was born to lead.

She nodded and whispered, "Yeah." And the pair walked further into the dark downpour.

* * *

><p>Emily was focusing so hard on searching for Spot that she and Ben didn't speak until they reached the river. In an unspoken agreement they had headed for the north-most section, where the river began. Emily shivered when she saw the river, but not because of the cold. The endless rain had made the river rise a good three or four inches, and was speeding past them at an alarming rate. Ben crossed the small bridge there, and together they headed down the river on opposite sides. If Spot was here, someone was bound to find him.<p>

But even Emily's calls couldn't make a puppy materialize magically in front of her. They were coming up upon the last bend. If Spot didn't show up soon, they would reach the waterfall and would have to begin the daunting task of combing the entire town. _Please be here,_ she thought, _come on, please let Spot be here, please, please, please…_

And she came out from behind a tree, and there he was. A giant log was lying in the river, nearly touching both sides of it, and there, clinging to the log with his teeth, was Spot. Half of his small, golden body was still in the raging river, while the other half clung to a branch protruding from the log with all its might.

"Spot!" Emily screamed. Without thinking twice she jumped onto the log and crawled to where her puppy was stuck.

If the rain hadn't been coming down so hard and the river had not been as loud, perhaps Emily would have heard the log creak under her weight.

"Spot! Here boy!" She called, reaching out a hand to her dog. It whined, but since it didn't have hands of its own, it couldn't reach for her. Emily was vaguely aware of someone shouting in the distance. Was it Ben?

She was about to turn and look when an enormous crack shattered her eardrums. Everything seemed to still, and then suddenly, with a snap that sounded like someone's backbone breaking, the world exploded.

The force of the river, coupled with Emily weight, was too much for the log, and it had finally ripped itself away from the river's edges. Now both she and the log were spun and bumped along the river's surface. Emily thought she heard herself screaming, but she couldn't be sure. All she knew was that Spot had vanished.

And then the waterfall was right in front of her, and then, just as suddenly, it wasn't. Emily gripped the log with both her hands and her feet as it fell into empty air and crashed into the rest of the river. She sped along its surface, too afraid of falling to even think of shifting her weight or jumping off. As she passed one of the bends, Emily spotted Max and Mary staring at her with eyes as large as dinner plates.

She must have passed under or above bridges, she must have, but Emily could never see where those bridges might have been. The water level had risen even more in the southern portion of the river, so much so that Danvile's lake was little more than a puddle for her to splash into.

But Emily knew that all rivers must go to the sea. Water was coloring her vision, but she could still make out the line of rocks that separated the river mouth from the ocean. The rocks had been put there to keep boats from accidently sailing into the island, but since no boats ever came in sight of land, those rocks, and Danvile's lighthouse, became useless. Now they were posing more of a danger than ever. Emily could see from her position that the water below her log was not enough to shield them from the sharp rocks.

She held her breath and closed her eyes as her log passed over the rocks. Below her she could hear the sound of ripping and tearing, and then suddenly, nothing. There was nothing. Emily didn't dare open her eyes as she was flung over the protruding rocks and into the sea.

* * *

><p>Emily opened her eyes slowly to faint sunlight and blinked as a shape came into focus. It was a head…no, not just any head. Ben's head. With Max and Mary in the background.<p>

"Slowly," Ben said. "You nearly drowned back there."

Drowned? She squinted in confusion. What reckless thing had she done this time?

His voice grew serious. "What were you thinking, jumping onto that log? Anyone could see that the water was making the dirt holding the log in place turn into mud."

Oh, yeah. The log. Emily's eyes flew open and she sat up quickly. There was Max and Mary, both wearing relieved expressions, and, at their feet, was a golden puppy.

"Spot!" She shouted, and he barked in reply and jumped on her. His fur was soaked, but then again, all five of them looked completely water-logged, no pun intended. She looked up at Ben. "Where'd you find him?"

Ben smiled. "He had managed to not get knocked by the log and was crawling out of the river just as you got launched off the waterfall. These two were in hysterics, fat lot of good they were." He turned and eyed the other two humans, who looked down and kicked the wet sand they stood on. "Knowing where the river ended we came here, only to find a mess of broken wood with no human attached. Turns out that was a good thing. The ocean's currant brought you right to our feet, literally."

"We were so worried!" Mary put in. "You could've been killed!"

"Yeah, what she said!" Max stomped his foot on the ground.

Emily just smiled and hugged Spot for a few moments longer, before she stood up. She looked at her friends and said, "Yeah, not my best moment. But you know what I think? I think we still haven't finished that game yet. It's Ben's turn to be dealer, after all. What do you say? Wanna use the last rays of night to beat Max?"

"Hey!" Max said indigently, but even he was smiling. And together, with a joyful Spot in the lead, the four human friends began the long trek toward home.

**I thought about changing the ending to make it a bit more dramatic, but I decided to keep the story as it was written by little 8-year-old me. It's been fun revisiting the made-up stories of my childhood, especially when I realize how much I improved since then. Hopefully I can share more childhood memories with you all soon!**


End file.
